Your Calling Style and Equipment

[Swede]

I don't call very much. It is partly due to my sitting in a tree stand most of the time, and partly due to most Oregon bulls hearing too many calls. Occasionally I go out and use a diaphragm and grunt tube, but most of the time it is just my Thunder Bugle and a Larry D. Jones Cow Call. I am just trying to tell elk withing hearing distance that a bull is near my stand. "Come and see." I use the Jones cow call after I shoot an elk to stop them or mostly to cover my sound as I walk to my stand.

Some say the Jones Cow Call does not sound right, but it is not a problem with the call. It is how it is used or overused. People badmouth the Hoochie Mama call, but I am sure it is good if you don't go around pumping it like you are trying to inflate an innertube. I have one that I won in some contest and have pumped it here in the house. Maybe someday I will pump it in the woods a time or two.

[Swede]

I have called elk (even a bull) the day before the opening of the rifle season. I remember laying out the boundary of a timber cutting unit when I heard a bull bugle one morning. I had no elk call, but had a good supply of surveyors plastic ribbon. I stretched a short section of that tight between my two thumbs and forefingers and made cow sounds. The bull responded to it until I had to get on with my work.
I normally don't need anything fancy to make a short bull sound. Just like the day I made a call out of surveyors ribbon, I am not chasing the elk. I just want them to think another elk is in the area and become curious. If I was calling like Elknut, I would use calls like Elknut. Since I just want to disguise what I am or just tell the elk in the area another elk is around, my job is much simpler. I think a lot of hunters including rifle hunters can benefit from a more minimalist approach to calling. I belive I am much less likley to be educating the elk than most hunters in the woods that want to be an Elknut, but are a far cry from getting there.

[Tigger]

teaching a newbie this year. he is 18 years old. very enthusiastic. gags on a diaphragm call, which makes it really entertaining for me! The more language you can make the better if....IF you use it at the right time and place and say the right thing. That is where most go off the rails. Wrong sound at the wrong time or too many sounds.

Pump it Swede! It will have them come a'runnin'!

[7mmfan]

I've called in two elk, killed them both. One was dumb luck, terrible calling, no idea what I was doing, I think I just got lucky with a fired up bull. The other was a spike. I knew more at that time. I knew spikes by themselves would generally come into cow calls looking for company. I set up and started a cow calling party. Different tones and lengths, trying to imitate multiple animals. I carried this on for several minutes, stopping periodically. Here he came, on a line. Shot him at about 50' walking right to me. That was the first time, and so far only time, that I was able to asses an animal and situation and apply the correct calling tactic. I generally just carry a cow call now because I only hunt rifle season and if I have a bugle I'll just get myself in trouble. HOWEVER I did just get a fancy new calling package from that photo of the year contest so maybe I'll start hauling that into the hills with me.

[Jhg]

Bugle and bugle junior.

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I use a bugle at times. I feel naked without one and have had many encounters that the bugle was instrumental in making happen or influencing in my favor. However, know thyself. Know what to say and when to say it.

For fun I tested the difference between my homemade standard size bugle against a shorter version ( $0.69 at Goodwill) to see if the size being sold is really better than a smaller version.
My tester was my wife in a room other end of house. Each sound was done twice for each bugle, then my wife chose the winner for that sound. Then we moved onto the next sound.

The standard bugle was a little louder making growls and huffs but not by much. The little one was pretty close and I doubt in the field results on elk would be any different between them. I would use the little dubber with confidence making these sounds.

The big difference was when making screams and high tone location bugles. The big bugle was much much much better. It produced louder more realistic sounds by a big margin. It was easier to make these sounds in the big tube as well.
Winner: big bugle.

[Lefty]

We have a number of Primos blue reed calls. Years back Eastmans was giving away what they called a Pack bugle ( nothing like the current Pack bugle ) away with a subscription.

We have Phelps bugles I use the Primos diaphragms Andrew uses Carltons and Rockey Moutain Diaphrams

My daughter carries a Hoochie Moma and will use a Primos blue reed if she is suppose to bugle
Her and my grandaughter both have an older Rocky Mountian open reed calls that they both sound just fine,


As far as calling style We tend to follow Elknuts playbook. Well try to anyway



We also do a simple setup when Im tired ( or need a nap,.. We sit and take turns evey 5-7 minutes will blow a single cow mew.